World Rally’s return to Kenyan Safari a step into the unknown

It is probably one of the best known events, after the Monte Carlo, on the rally calendar, the African round of the championship, the Safari Rally.

It was a name synonymous with very high temperatures, rough roads, arduous conditions, wild game, variable weather conditions, magnificent scenery and the hardest on crews. This classic event is back after a 19 year hiatus as the sixth round of the 2021 World Rally Championship and will prove to be a very tough challenge for all the top competitors

First held in 1953, running through Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika, it was known as the East African Coronation Safari as a celebration of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation. In 1960, it became the East African Safari Rally, a name it retained until 1974 when it became the Safari Rally.

In those early days the rally was held on roads still open to the public and covered more than 5000 km. Just finishing this rally was an achievement in itself. Weather played a huge part when rain arrived and transformed dusty roads into rivers, lakes and glutinous mud within minutes.

The event changed to the special stage format in 1996 featuring over 1000 km of timed tests and remained on the WRC calendar until 2002, the final WRC rally won by the late Colin McRae with co-driver Nicky Grist in their Ford Focus , the Scot’s third win in Kenya. However it was Kenyan Shekhar Mehta who tops the Safari’s WRC roll of honour with five wins, all in Datsuns/Nissans.

The 2021 Kenya Safari Rally will be somewhat different to those early days, modern rally regulations require a modern-day format. Those incredibly long stages are a thing of the past and it is interesting to note the overall competitive distance this year is 16 km shorter than the total for leg one in 2002.

Crews face a very difficult recce for this event having to prepare accurate pace notes on a blank sheet of paper after only two passes of each stage, this is where previous experience would have come in, but none of the front runners have ever competed here previously. Car preparation will be a full gravel suspension setup but with an increased ride height to clear the very rocky roads.

Unusual for a WRC organisers have brought forward the shakedown stage which now takes place on Wednesday 23^rd June, close to the purpose built Service Park at the Kenya Wildlife Training Institute on the shores of Lake Naivasha approximately 100 km northwest of the nation’s capital Nairobi.

The 58 entries face 18 special stages covering 320.19 km of the 1 133.94 km total from Thursday’s ceremonial start in Nairobi and the Kasarani super special stage within the city’s limits, before heading back to the overnight halt in Naivasha. The rally proper gets underway on Friday morning and finishes with the Wolff power stage on Sunday afternoon.

Current leaders in both driver’s and manufacturer’s championship, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, will field their normal line up for this event. Sebastien Ogier and co-driver Julien Ingrassia (106 points) hold an 11 point lead over team mate Elfyn Evans with co-driver Scott Martin (95 points).

The third member of the team Kalle Rovanpera and co-driver Jonne Halttunen (44 points) will be looking for a better result than the last three rallies with too many off road excursions and a DNF has cost them valuable points. The team will be out to consolidate its position after the excellent one two finish in Sardinia.

Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT retain the team from Sardinia and need to close the gap to Toyota in the chase for both titles. After another third position earlier this month, his fourth of the season, Thierry Neuville with co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe (77 points) need another good finish to keep within range of their rivals.

Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja (49 points) and team mates Dani Sordo with co-driver Borja Rozada (30 points) desperately need good finishes, both teams have only been on the podium once so far this season, although Sordo has only competed in three rallies in 2021. This is the first time the team have competed in this event.

It is a return to the M-Sport Ford WRT top team for Adrien Fourmaux and co-driver Renaud Jamoul (20 points) after a short spell back in the RC2 Fiesta. Gus Greensmith (22 points) will be reunited with co-driver Chris Patterson and both Fiesta crews will be facing a tough rally but hoping to regain some of Ford’s former glory on this event.

For the front runners mechanical sympathy is the key, certain sections are so rocky speeds just above a walking place are the maximum, this is not a rally to approach with a normal gravel rally mindset, which could easily lead to an early exit.

On the entry list there are certainly memories of bygone days with no less than 19 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo’s and 12 Subaru Imprezas, running in the National section.

The most intriguing entry is from M-Sport Poland with the Ford Fiesta ST Rally 3 of Sobieslaw Zasada and co-driver Tomasz Boryslawski. Zasada is no stranger to East Africa having competed on eight Safari Rallies previously. In 1972, he brought a Porsche 911 S home in second spot behind winner Hannu Mikkola

During a long and distinguished career, he won the European Rally Championship three times in 1966, 1967 and 1971 and finished runner-up on three more occasions.  What makes this entry so remarkable is he becomes the oldest entry on a round of the World Rally Championship, his last event was back in 1997 when with his wife Ewa alongside they took a Mitsubishi Lancer to 12^th place. Zasada’s age at the start of this year’s Kenya Safari Rally, a spritely 91 years young.